Beyond the Well: Local Leadership in South Sudan’s Water Crisis

“We cannot see God, but I can see you—so I see you as a second god.”

Agostino, the Tonj North County WASH Coordinator, said this to me the day his community’s well was being drilled. I didn’t hear it as praise. It landed as a reminder of how easily credit is misplaced.

I am here representing Water for South Sudan’s donors, but the work unfolding in Tonj is led by South Sudanese engineers, coordinators, drill teams, and community members who know this land, this water, and these needs far better than I ever could. What I witnessed was not a miracle delivered from outside, but a system working as it should. Local leadership, technical skill, and persistence bringing clean water up from the ground.

I think what Agostino was really naming was recognition. Not of me, but of the fact that this work, and this community, matters to people beyond its borders. That partnership matters.

To our donors: Thank you for standing alongside the people of Athou Village and the South Sudanese teams who make this work possible. Your support helps sustain locally led solutions that save lives every day.